Sep 2, 2014

04:59 PM

Former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Dannel Malloy in New Haven Tuesday.

Former President Bill Clinton revved up the true believers in a weekday rally putting the onus on them to get a second term for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

In a reprise of help he gave Malloy in 2010, Clinton was back in the state, this time in New Haven—a city he knows well—having graduated from Yale Law School in 1973, as did his wife, Hillary Clinton, and U.S. Richard Blumenthal.

The 42nd president of the United States said party members only have a few weeks to determine how this tight race turns out with some polls showing Republican contender Tom Foley pulling ahead.

“The polls ... are based on an assumption that the turnout in a mid-term election will be very different than a turnout in a presidential election. If that happens, shame on us,” Clinton said.

The president offered an analogy.

Remembering his time in a cottage in Milford more than 40 years ago, he said he would watch as people walked out to a nearby island, but then forgot about the tide.

“I love Connecticut. You have been good to me in personal and political ways. I don’t want you to take your eye off the tides in this election,” Clinton said.

The former president said based on his record, Malloy “should be re-elected by 10 points or more, going away,” which brought cheers from 300 to 400 party regulars, elected officials and campaign staffers in the hourlong pep rally.

“You have a job to do,” he told them again and again.

There were also references to Hillary Clinton and what the next two years mean for her.

Alluding to her expected run for president in 2016, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp welcomed the “homecoming for the first President Clinton.”

Clinton said he was “captivated” by Malloy, learning how he overcame his personal challenges of dyslexia.

Malloy is an example of a true leader, who will make the hard decisions, Clinton said.

“We want somebody who won’t look at the polls, but will look at the future and think about what is good for the children. ... Are things coming together or being torn apart?” Clinton asked.

“By those tests this man has more than earned the chance to finish, the job he started four years ago,” the former president said, also to cheers from the crowd.

Clinton said a leader has vision, a strategy, executes that strategy and handles “incoming fire.” He said Malloy hits all those targets. He said the Republican mantra is the promise to cut taxes.

“I have been listening to this for over 30 year. They talk tough, but they govern soft,” Clinton said.